Throughout the nineteen-twenties, the infrastructure of America and it’s stature amongst the world blossomed at unprecedented levels. Materialism drove the desires and futures of citizens and became an entity of the average person. Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to address the issue of the effects of wealth at the time through the eyes of Nick Carraway. Although Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom are content with their prosperity and wealth in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays wealth as a curse that corrupts those who possess it. At beginning of the novel, Fitzgerald uses money to show the negative connotations that wealth possesses. Nick describes this permeating foulness at Gatsby’s party for the first time. He notes the “pervading harshness” …show more content…
Gatsby comments on the Daisy’s behavior before they go to the city. When Nick asks about the sound of Daisy’s voice, Gatsby replies that Daisy’s voice was full of “money”, which Nick had “never understood before”,until now (Fitzgerald 120). Nick’s realization to this comment shows that elegance and beauty mask one’s greed and materialism. The change in Daisy since the beginning of the novel, to the point where coin-like jingles chimed from her voice, illustrates the degrading power that money toils on one’s character. Nick’s newfound negative view of Daisy evolves to disgust by the end of the novel. After Gatsby’s death, Nick notes how Daisy and Tom were “careless people” and that would ruin and destroy lives before “retreating back” to their wealth. Nick believes that Tom and Daisy were responsible for Gatsby’s death as their manipulation not only destroyed Gatsby, but Myrtle and Wilson as well. This contempt shows the vanity that possesses those with excessive wealth. Daisy and Tom’s transition exemplifies the deceit that money brings, how it impedes between relationships, and causes the innocent to suffer, all so that the rich can thrive off the preservation of their